The tense racial climate in American cities during World War II led to rioting, suspicion and reduced industrial production. Especially after the Detroit race riot in summer 1943, there were widespread fears that a divided nation might be at risk militarily.The House I Live In, one of the most widely shown educational films in the Forties and Fifties, expressed a vision of America as a society that valued tolerance and pluralism but whose high degree of personal freedom posed the danger of demagoguery and public prejudice. Like Don't Be a Sucker (also on this program), this film admonishes citizens not to let anyone take advantage of them by dividing the nation.Touching and hypocritical at the same time (what about the Japanese Americans?), this film is perhaps best read as a creature of wartime rather than an absolutist statement of American values. As we unfortunately know, unity hasn't always rated so highly on the scale of social priorities.

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